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Playa Vista: Los Angeles’ New Tech Hub

According to The Los Angeles Times, Google Inc. has reportedly spent nearly $120 million on 12 vacant acres next to a historic hangar where aviator Howard Hughes built his famous “Spruce Goose” airplane in Playa Vista.

With this recent transaction it’s pretty certain that the search engine company is expanding its presence in the Southern California. They currently operate in several buildings throughout LA county, including the famous Binocular building in Venice designed by Frank Gehry. However, this new Playa Vista land acquisition is zoned for approximately 900,000-square-foot of commercial space that has the potential to be both office and studio space. Google is also expected to lease the Hughes hangar built in 1943, according to The Times. The 319,000-square-foot building has recently housed soundstages for movie and television production. “The combination of the hangar space and planned development of the 900,000 square feet could bring in as many as 6,000 well-paid, highly educated workers”, per The L.A. Times.

Image via LA Times

City Councilman Mike Bonin, who represents the Westchester/Playa Vista area, is quoted as saying “the announcement solidifies the neighborhood’s reputation as a high-tech hub. This is phenomenal news for the Westside and for the Los Angeles economy.”

Local entrepreneurs and investors told The Times they’re excited about the possibilities that a stepped-up Google presence could bring. A juggernaut like Google would help bring even more attention, developers and investment to the booming area. “It increases the quality of the work, it increases the ability to network, it increases the ability to attract more people here,” said Kieran Hannon, chief marketing officer at Belkin, which has 450 employees in Playa Vista. “It has a complete knock-on effect.”